A Place So Wicked Patrick Reuman (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📖

Eli had a point, Toby knew this, but his anger was clouding his judgement. And as much as he wished it weren’t true, deep down in his mind, and only crawling its way closer to the surface, was the undeniable fact that he really was pissed off at Eli.

Eli knew.

This son of a bitch knew they were sacrifices. Maybe not fully but definitely enough that if he would have just spoken up sooner, his sister, and the rest of his family, may not be in the mortal danger they were in now. Things may have been different.

Eli bent down and started untying his shoe.

“What are you doing?” Toby asked.

Eli finished untying and removed the lace completely, leaving the tongue of his shoe laying there in the nude, as if Eli had just picked up the shoe from the side of the street and threw it on.

“We’re going to wrap this around your wrists and pretend I have you tied up.”

Paisley could barely withstand the absolute stench that surrounded her. All she remembered was tossing herself out the window, making a run for it, and bumping into Addy. Then she woke up here, tied up in the nearly complete darkness with her head throbbing. And that smell, oh my god, that smell made the disorientation a thousand times worse. What, she wondered, in this terrible, shitty universe could possibly smell that bad?

Her vision was finally beginning to clear. There were lights flickering. No, they weren’t lights. They were candles, tons of them, all over the room. And the room, she saw now, was actually the basement, which she had never been in until now. The light from the tiny flames flicked and tossed against the stone walls like there was a breeze circulating the basement somehow. But there wasn’t.

All she could see ahead of her was the vague outline of a door, one that she somehow knew had to be the door. But even with the yellow light from the candles, she couldn’t make out anything on it that looked like words. She tried to move her hands, but the rope had them pinned together behind her back. She was in a chair, that much she knew. The wood creaked and strained as she tried to somehow wiggle herself free. But there was no luck to be had. Her attempts only seemed to make the rope feel tighter and more painful against her skin.

That’s when she heard the dry clank of footsteps against the cement floor and a person moved into view. At first, they appeared as nothing but a dark figure, a walking shadow come to life. But then she removed her hood, and Paisley saw a face that took a moment to be recognized but quickly gained the terrifying identity of Addy’s mother, the tall, stone-faced woman who had answered the door when they came knocking in search of Addy.

“Hello,” she said, her face remaining still as if it were actually unable to do anything but glare scathingly.

Paisley said nothing. She was trying to devise a plan for escape, but nothing was coming to her. The situation seemed utterly impossible. She was probably going to die down there with that smell and this evil woman, and there was nothing she could do about it.

“I need you to tell me something. And it’s very important, because if you don’t tell me, I’m going to make bad things happen to you. Do you understand?”

Paisley still said nothing. Her heart had begun pounding so loudly, she was actually surprised this she-devil couldn’t hear it. Her feet weren’t tied up. That was the one thing she noticed that could be an advantage to her. Why hadn’t they tied those as well? She wasn’t sure. Maybe there wasn’t time. Or not enough rope. Based on how lax this woman seemed, it might have been that they just didn’t care. But if the woman got any closer, she may be able to kick her. And, while that wouldn’t really help her escape, it would feel damn good to hear her yelp.

“Where is the rest of your family?”

Paisley almost burst out laughing but stifled all but a soft chuckle. The woman stepped closer to her.

“Something is funny?”

Something was funny. Did this lady really miss the car full of people out front? Had she walked right by without noticing? Paisley could only hope. She steeled herself, forcing the brief smile away from her face so that she may look at this woman. Paisley lifted her eyes to meet with hers, still remaining silent, adamant that she would tell her nothing, only try to buy the others enough time to wake up and get away. Now that they were out of the house, she hoped their recovery would be quick, like when her parents had taken Trevor to see the doctor.

There was movement in her peripheral vision, and two others came a little forward, as if breaking off from the darkness itself, but neither removed their hood. It was the third new addition that showed his face. Stepping into the light, he pulled the hood off and looked at Paisley. It was the doctor, a smile on his face as he stepped into brighter light. Paisley had to hold back another laugh. Now that she knew these people were dumb enough to pass right by without checking the car, the outfits were beginning to feel more silly than scary.

Until the doctor drew a long knife from within his gown, the silver blade gleaming off the flame’s light. She gasped, a wave of putrid air rushing into her opened mouth. She gagged as if choking on a solid object. Another dizzy spell came on suddenly. The others, the ones who hadn’t shown their faces, moved forward a little, and she wondered how many more there were behind her, or to her sides, just out of view.